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A deal between Air New Zealand and the Engineering, Printing and Air New Zealand and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) will continue talks today to save the jobs of up to 1675 staff.
The two parties have reached agreement under which about 40 per cent of staff will get a pay rise, 40 per cent a pay cut and the rest will stay on the same wage rate. Those offered a cut will have an automatic right to redundancy.
The airline had wanted to contract the work to Spanish company Swissport, putting the jobs of all 1675 staff at risk. The new deal saves the jobs but Employment Court action continues today, with the EPMU alleging Air New Zealand acted in bad faith regarding consultation over its plans to contract out.
EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said it would be about a month before all the details of the new agreement were finalised and offered to the union members to vote on.
Talks with the airline would continue today.
But the deal could be scuppered if the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU), which represents about 300 check-in staff, does not agree to it.
SFWU northern regional secretary Jill Ovens said workers would be sitting ducks for future outsourcing if they accepted the deal.
"When Swissport eventually lands the contract, any further cuts won't seem so drastic," she said.
"It makes the proposal more attractive for them as it greatly lessens the risk of industrial action when they take over."
She believed Air NZ's strong objection to a SFWU proposal that the company guarantee it would not outsource for another 10 years was proof the Swissport move would happen.
Air New Zealand spokesman Mike Todd said the airline was committed to an in-house solution.
"But for that to work, there needed to be an agreement between the EPMU and SFWU," Mr Todd said.
- NZPA
